"A taste of Paradise" a Seychelles Travel Page by Muya

Ah... the Seychelles islands ! A real heaven on earth... Not only for the dreaming landscapes, but also for the kindness of the people. Never saw such a smiling population, always willing to help ... just to please you. And always interested to know where you come from and what you think of the island.

Less than 10 hours flight from Paris, and there they are... the 115 islands of the Seychelles, pure and unspoiled, stretch in the Indian Ocean like a string of pearls.

Situated 4 degrees south of the Equator, their origin remains a mystery to the scientists. Some of them date it back to an ice age, millions of years ago, when India and Africa (then part of what was called the supercontinent of Gondwana) were separated from each other. The fracture between the two is said to have left behind what is now the beautiful archipelago of the Seychelles, stretching over a maritime surface of 1 300 000 km² (with the total surface of the islands representing only 444 km² !). Among the 115 islands, of outstanding natural beauty, only 20 are inhabited. Lush vegetation is the main word here, the Seychelles have 81 unique plant species as well as giant turtles walking freely on some of the islands. A real bird paradise too, perfect for nature lovers ! The underwater of the archipelago is one of the most beautiful in the world, with a great variety of coral, shells and multicolored fish. The coral have suffered a lot of the El Nino phenomenon, but are now slowly recovering (one centimeter a year...)

The Seychelles can be divided into two main groups : the granitic islands and the coralline islands.
Mahé, the main island (150km² and home to the capital Victoria), belongs to the granitic group which count +/- 42 islands. Among them, you find Praslin (the second most important island with 26 km²) and La Digue, the best known of all for this is the one where you travel by ox cart... Then you have all the satellites of Mah? : Sainte Anne Marine Park (with the islands of Sainte Anne, Moyenne, Long, Round and Cerf), Silhouette, Conception, Thérèse ; and the satellites of Praslin with among them Aride, Curieuse, Cousin, Cousine, Félicité, Frégate, Bird, Denis

The other islands, flat and tiny, and isolated from tourists, are part of the coralline group, which can be divided into 4 groups : the group of Aldabra (which has the largest lagoon in the world... 30km ), the group of the Amirantes, Farquhar, and Alphonse.

Of course, we weren't lucky (or rich..) enough to visit all of them ! We just limited ourself to the main island, Mahé, which offers so many things to do already, that ten days were barely enough...
But some day... I hope to go back and visit some of the other islands as well... anyway we ate breadfruit, so if the legend is true, we should go back some day.